THE SHEPHERD'S VOICE

The human voice has some amazing potential. While sorting through some old music CDs recently I came upon a selection of Sinatra's hits; the younger Sinatra and the older. The cello-like timbre of his voice got him the moniker 'The Voice.' Singers like Sinatra and Pavarotti had a huge compelling quality to their voices: soul. There is something about the human voice that can move us in a uniquely powerful way. Remember how the timbre of Adolf Hitler's voice had the power to move a whole generation of his fellow country men and women.

The spoken word is often more powerful than the written word. I'm listening to a CD of Richard Burton reading Shakespeare as I write this. He makes Shakespeare come alive in a way my silent reading of the text does not. Listening to it tells me how important it is for our liturgical readers to prepare well what they are going to read at Mass. Recently I read all of St. Mark's Gospel. Then I listened to it on iPod. The spoken version was an altogether different experience. What is it about the human voice?

Blessed John Henry Newman was attracted by 'voice.' He became a Catholic in the eighteen forties because, he said, 'only the Roman Church had the living voice of biblical interpretation.' He said, in a completely different context, that the voice of conscience is 'the aboriginal echo of Christ's voice,' - illuminating, soul-changing, often troubling.

The Gospel this Sunday is about sheep following the voice of the shepherd. God's voice is real and human in the bible. It's not at all philosophical or abstract. The world was spoken into existence by God's word. 'Let there be......' The great prophets of the bible cried, 'Thus says the Lord.....' The psalmists experienced God in a personal way: 'O Lord, you have probed me and you know me....' - Psalm 139. The entire bible can be seen as an intimate conversation or rapport between God and us. We were created to hear the Shepherd's voice, born to know God. That's why Newman responded, and why so many more continue to respond when they recognized the authentic voice of God.

There is an amazing story in chapter eight of the Acts of the Apostles. An Ethiopian was returning home in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah, but without understanding what he was reading. Philip the apostle accosted him and explained the passage. In the apostle's explanation, this pagan Ethiopian heard the voice of God and asked to be baptized there and then. Likewise, something stirred in the three thousand who asked for baptism having listened to Peter's proclamation of the gospel, as recounted in this Sunday's second reading. Personal change is the proof we have heard God's voice.

The sheep recognize and follow the shepherd's voice, ignoring the voices of strangers. There are millions of 'strange voices' out there today competing for our attention, voices to which we are not truly wired to give our best attention : money, position, honor, power, pleasure.... These are the 'thieves and robbers' to which Jesus refers. To heed them over God's voice is to allow ourselves to be robbed of the life 'more abundantly' Christ came to give us.

How do we hear the voice of God today? Through sacred scripture, the word of God, speaking to our conscience: through the teaching of the Church; through the lives of the saints; through the Sunday Eucharist; through the sound advice of wise and conscientious people; through a robustly functioning conscience, the infallible echo of God's voice in our hearts. Like the Ethiopian in the second reading, we need to understand rather than just 'know' the stories in our scriptures and the teachings of our tradition. We need to slow down and ponder - and listen.

The Gospel tells us that 'the shepherd walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.' Our Shepherd has walked our walk ahead of us. He has already walked whatever dark path we may find ourselves on in life. He is a Shepherd that we can safely follow. Because of our baptism (do we ever reflect on its implications?) my life is not just about me. I was born and built not to 'do it my way,' but to let go and follow the Shepherd's way.

PASTOR EMERITUS